Obama, Romney prepare to debate

US President Barack Obama boards Air Force One on Sunday before departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

Photo: AFP

US President Barack Obama prepared yesterday for his first debate with Republican rival Mitt Romney, saying the clash was about security for hardworking Americans, not rhetorical “zingers.”

Obama heaped pressure on his foe, who is angling for a dramatic turnaround for his ailing campaign in Wednesday’s showdown, before bunkering down in a resort in Nevada’s rocky desert to shake off his mothballed debating skills.

“The media is speculating already on who is going to have the best zingers ... who’s going to put the most points on the board,” Obama told a floodlit rally of 11,000 people in a Hispanic suburb of Las Vegas on Sunday.

“Governor Romney, he’s a good debater ... I’m just okay,” Obama said tongue-in-cheek, as he upped the stakes in the classic game of expectations setting that rival campaigns wage before big debates.

Obama sought to frame tomorrow’s face-off, the first of a trio of presidential debates, as a contrast between substance and style, and to paint himself as the champion of the hurting middle class.

“What I am most concerned about is having a serious discussion about what we need to do to keep the country going and restore security for hardworking Americans,” Obama said.

Romney and Obama will meet in Denver, Colorado tomorrow night for the first of three debates crucial to shaping the remaining five weeks of the US president’s bid for a second term in the White House.

Obama currently leads the national race — by five points in the latest Gallup daily tracking poll — and in most key battlegrounds ahead of the Nov. 6 election.

While the classic pre-debate spin requires campaigns to play down the chances of their man, gruff New Jersey Governor Chris Christie appeared not to get the memo from the Romney campaign.

“Wednesday night is the restart of this campaign and I think you’re going to see those numbers start to move right back in the other direction,” Christie said. “This whole race is going to be turned upside down come Thursday morning.”

The Obama campaign pounced on the comment, which will permit the president’s camp to portray the former Massachusetts governor’s performance tomorrow as disappointing, whatever the outcome.

“What [Christie] said is what they’ve been saying for months, that they expect that after the debates will turn the race upside down,” Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Romney’s vice presidential pick Representative Paul Ryan admitted to “some missteps” after Romney’s nightmare month in the White House race, and sought to moderate expectations, saying no debate would “make or break” the campaign.

Obama is “a very gifted speaker,” Ryan said. “The man’s been on the national stage for many years. He’s an experienced debater. He’s done these kinds of debates before. This is Mitt’s first time on this kind of a stage.”

Ryan also hammered Obama over the White House’s shifting account of the assault on the US consulate in Benghazi.

“It’s part of a bigger picture of the fact that the Obama foreign policy is unraveling literally before our eyes on our TV screens,” Ryan said on Fox News Sunday, revealing that Romney was planning a major foreign policy speech soon.

Initially, US officials said the Sept. 11 assault in Benghazi was a spontaneous demonstration whipped by outrage over an anti-Muslim film made on US soil.